dudacek

I’d would much rather go with an unproven guy in the system already than a proven JAG like Nick Ritchie or Jesse Puljujarvi. Kulich or Savoie could be like Peterka was last year: good enough to play and develop, not good enough to make a difference. Tatar or Suter on a 1-year deal make a ton of sense to me.

It would be a huge surprise if Maxim Strbak doesn’t play for Slovakia, and Norwin Panocha is a possibility for Germany. He was considered a possible winger during his draft year too, which seems to be largely a function of his size. He’s got high-end speed, excellent hockey sense, takes a ton of faceoffs and is conscientious defensively. He was a 1st-line centre pretty much exclusively for the ICE, ahead of the guy (Geekie) Pronman mocks as Canada’s 1C.. Briere was the centre of his line, but it seemed to be Hecht was the one who did the heavy lifting down low in the defensive zone. Fleury played both centre and wing. Keller is a winger. Those are some high-end comparables. I think if he ends up at wing it will be more a function of depth and chemistry choices, rather than any unsuitability for the position

Maybe they are looking at it like you often do: Savoie closer to the NHL? Savoie was a higher pick? Savoie is more physically developed? Savoie had a more impressive playoff? Savoie is a faster skater? It’s not like they said Mittelstadt is better than Thompson, more like Peterka is better than Quinn. It’s a minority opinion but it’s not indefensible 🤷

Depends what the other team thinks of those pieces and how badly they are looking to sell. Prospect valuations are all over the board. I think Östlund is significantly better than Rosen, others disagree. Is Devon Levi a recent 7th round pick, or an NHL starter in the making? Are Cody Hodgson and Zach Kassian potential core pieces, or prospects their drafting team has developed serious doubts about? The Devils might flip Alexander Holtz for a goalie. I see him as a Rosen, others might see him as a Quinn. Hellebuyck has a motivated seller. When he goes, it will be for a package, the best piece of which some will see as the equivalent of Rosen or Östlund.

65 Roses. He arrived shortly after what was, at the time, the nadir of Sabres fandom.

Even Kevyn Adams would agree. It'just that many aren't too certain of his choices.

i always have to default of the most ever given up for a goalie being pick #9 and that was for a young but proven goalie expected to be your franchise #1 for years.. Quinn was pick 8 and has justified it so far. Savoie was pick 9 and held value. Some think Benson and Kulich are better than Savoie and Peterka is at a similar level. I don' think any of them should be necessary to get any goalie, particularly one with a big contract, or the expectations of a big contract.

Does a Greenway Krebs VO line getting probably the easiest matchups frighten you? Jost can play with the vets and Mitts Cozens and Peterka could be good.

Who we paid $2 million. maybe the oddest move of the off-season to me. i have no problem with Greenway in a middle 6 role alongside Cozens, Krebs or Mittelstadt. In fact that's where I expect him.

Just a reminder that over the 3 seasons prior to last year Jordan Greenway averaged nearly 15 minutes a night and just under a point for every 2 games played for a good Minnesota team. He was a plus player in hard defensive minutes. The Sabres also gave up a 2nd-rounder to get him. I am surprised by how many people continue to put him in a 4th line role.

This is an interesting exercise: 1 Ullmark Samsonov Vaselivskiy Bobrovsky Levi Korpisalo Husso Montembeault 2 Swayman Woll Johansson Stolarz Luukkonen Forsberg Reimer Allen 3 Bussi Murray* Alnefelt Knight* Comrie Sogaard Lyon DeSmith 4 Dipietro ???? Tomkins Guzda Tokarski Mandolese Cossa Primeau

I'm of a mind that the difference between the better of Comrie/UPL and most of the other backups they will have to match (Johansson, DeSmith, Reimer, Woll, Nedelkjovic, Forsberg, Quick, Petersen...) is not particularly substantial. But it is certainly a drop below Varlamov and Knight and Swayman, so you're right, it matters.

Curious about what the standing ask and offer is for Gibson, or if they’ve even made an offer on Hellebuyck. I think we just saw in San Jose shows what happens when a big contract is forcing his way out and the team feels the prudent thing to do is comply. Both those guys have definitely reached the “want out” stage and both come with tickets that have to depress their market and/or price.

I have little faith in Comrie or UPL. I had little in most of Ryan Miller’s backups, or Dom’s either. I’ve been saying this for a year now: Devon Levi will be a star. If it happens this year, all of this becomes moot.

Fair. Still, all 3 got hurt and they were leading a team with 5 first-year players and as many more who had played less than 200 NHL games. And they missed by a single win. That team brings nearly every key player back, and with more experience, and added Greenway, Stillman, Clifton, Johnson and Levi to target areas of need. I too would have liked to see the GM do more. But there should be enough there to be a playoff team.

I agree with this, even though I think this team can make the playoffs as currently constructed. Here’s why, and this fits this thread very well and doesn’t get talked about enough as we retread the same old worn-out ground about needing another goalie, or what a great prospect pool we have. Rasmus Dahlin is among the best defenceman in the NHL and is certainly the best defenceman ever to wear blue and gold. He has first-tier talent, first-tier size and first-tier compete. He is a stud and every inch capable of being the lead dog on a Stanley Cup-winning blueline. Tage Thompson may or may not be a top 10 centre given the holes in his defensive game, but he is an absolute top 10 game-breaker, in terms of being a player who can create highlight reel goals on his own. McDavid is without parallel of course, but who else in the league combines those one-on-one moves with that absolute bomb of a shot the way Tage does? Not many. Never mind the physical unicorn that he is. Eichel, Mogilny, Lafontaine, Martin, Perreault… who else in franchise history has shown the level of offensive talent we saw last year? And how good is Alex Tuch? 6’4” 220 pounds, sees the ice well, deceptive shot, impressive forechecker, impressive backchecker, an all-around all-situations player and an absolute freight train on the rush. Great dude who sets a tone and represents the franchise and the city the way you want it represented. Every intangible you could ask for AND he was the 5th highest points/game Right Wing in the league last year. These guys aren’t “potential” or “projections”, they are - right here, right now - the best D/C/W trio this franchise has had in at least a generation.

I don’t either, but I can see a world where Power could one day surpass Dahlin in hockey IQ and Dahlin currently has the best IQ on the Sabres, and among the best on the franchise of all time. The most impressive thing about Power is the way he handles the geometry of the game. He uses that enormous frame and sub-zero panic threshold to buy an extra half-second of time, or create an extra foot of space that nobody else has and then exploits it to perfection. Even at 20 he can play a game like he’s a 30-year-old playing against 10-year-olds. People compared Dahlin to Lidstrom because they’re Swedes, but Ras doesn’t really play like Niklas at all; he’s smart, but his calling cards are skill and compete. People see Power’s size and they expect him to overpower you, but he is like Lidstrom in that he knows what you’re going to do before you do and you just can’t touch him.

I think there are many fans around the league - and even here - who have no idea how good Dahlin was defensively last year.

Pretty sure you’re talking about organizations here. But I think that last sentence needs to apply to the players, first and foremost. I hope Dahlin and Cozens and Tuch and Thompson and Power and Levi and the rest are looking at this and understanding that this is the mountain they have to climb if they want to reach the top. This and that Hedman Stamkos Kucherov Vasilevskiy Point group. They are are the ones who will have to match up with those players, then beat them. If they are depending on Kevyn bringing in mercenaries to do it for them, it was never going to happen anyway. ***** EDIT: As soon as I posted I realized some people are going to read this as an absolution of Adams and it’s not intended as that at all, he still needs to do his ***** job. Its just an acknowledgement that our core is already here and that if we ever want to be taken seriously, that’s what our core needs to be shooting for.

Average age is such a misleading stat. What matters are the windows - rising U25, declining O30 and prime years in between - and the amount of key players you have in each window.

I think Dahlin was better at 18 than Power was at 20. I think Power was better at 20 than Dahlin was at 21. I think Dahlin is in the Norris conversation and will be for most of the next 8 years. I think Power needs to get to that level before this becomes a real conversation.

Hopefully Karlsson frees a log jam and a few more moves start to flow.

Is that really what I wrote? I like Clifton and I think he improves the team. I don’t think he’s the reliable 3/4 we needed.

Wait, that’s a little different, recalculating 😁

So a straight salary dump, more or less? The Sharks get 5 NHL players, some of whom will be fine for a year or 2, none of who will make a difference now or later, and most of which they probably could have had for free. Who’s better: 25 year-old Thompson Dahlin Tuch Cozens and Power or 35-year-old Crosby Karlsson Smith Malkin and Letang? Playoff race this year should settle a lot of arguments between the go-for-it and develop folks.